Neutron total cross sections on protons and nuclei in the 10 to 30 GeV/c momentum range

Abstract

We present the results of a recent AGS measurement of the total cross section for neutrons on protons, deuterons and other nuclei in the momentum range 10 to 30 GeV/c. The standard good-geometry transmission technique was used with a total absorption spectrometer to detect the transmitted neutrons. Biasing the spectrometer towards high neutron momenta together with the strongly-peaked momentum spectrum of the beam gave relatively good momentum resolution. Measurements were made at mean momenta of 12, 13, 18 and 26.5 GeV/c. Results are presented and the cross sections for nuclei are compared with theoretical predictions.

Total Neutron Cross-section Measurement on CH with a Novel 3D-projection Scintillator Detector

“…A comparison of the data taken when the detector is rotated by 180 degrees along Y shows a discrepancy comparable to our detection systematic uncertainty. There are many external measurements of the total neutron-Carbon and neutron-Hydrogen cross sections [17][18][19][20][21][22]. Our result on CH from 100 to about 600 MeV is consistent within the error bar with those neutron-Carbon total cross-section measurements, indicating a minor contribution from the neutron-Hydrogen interaction.…”